Interpreting the Self

How do ways of explaining one's life vary over time? Although anthropologists have found intriguing cultural differences in how people interpret the self, there has been little extended work exploring historical variations. In this study, sociologist Diane Bjorklund remedies this gap by exploring the historical nature of self-narrative. Examining over 100 American autobiographies published in the last two centuries, she discusses not only well-known autobiographers such as Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie but also many obscure ones such as a traveling book peddler, a minstrel, a hotel proprietress, an itinerant preacher, a West Point cadet, and a hoopskirt wire manufacturer.

First sentence: "I only put in all that self stuff," Erving Goffman once remarked about his analyses of social interaction, "because people like to read about it."

Year

1998

Language

English

Publisher

University Of Chicago Press

Editions

2

Pages

278

ISBN

9780226054476

Data source: Wikidata